To Improve Sleep Duration in Teens, Combine Biology with Psychotherapy

Short sleep duration in teenagers (retiring late and rising early for school) is driven by both biological rhythms and psychological difficulty and causes cognitive and emotional difficulties. Researchers conducted a two-phase, randomized, controlled trial to improve sleep initiation and total sleep duration in 9th to 12th graders with self-reported sleep difficulties.

All participants were encouraged to retire an hour earlier. In phase one, 72 participants received 4 weeks of brief light flashes every 20 seconds or sham light during the last 3 hours of sleep. Students in phase one reported that light flashes were noticed or were sleep-disturbing. Thus, in phase two, 30 students received 4 weeks of light flashes or sham light for the last 2 …